After fronting acclaimed synth-pop group The Kingdom, Chuck Westmoreland stepped away from music for personal reasons and never planned to return. He became the proud owner of a bar called Red Fox, yet after years of regulars shuffling in and out of its doors, he felt a calling to write music again, this time in a country-leaning style channeling the lives and struggles of all the people he had come to know in his bar. 

Released June 1, Long Winter Rodeo is a collection of country-tinged character sketches displaying a songwriting prowess that recalls the introspective storytelling of Taylor Goldsmith and the brutal honesty of John Moreland coupled with the ebb and flow of sparse acoustic instrumentation and driven electric guitars. Here, Westmoreland answers his Essential 8 and talks about the project, songwriting, drinking at gigs, and more.

Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did?
The songs I wrote on this record change feeling pretty drastically.  It can go from power pop sort of stuff to really soft, folky, country between one song and the next.  I didn’t really have a song order in mind until after it was mixed and I was about to send it out for mastering.  I tried to keep it balanced with a louder song followed by a quieter one. I always thought about it as a vinyl record that you’d have to flip over and starting side A with “Sharp Rocks” made the most sense to me as a beginning. It seemed right to have “Long Winter Rodeo”, the title track, in the middle of the record and also the beginning of side B.  “Slaughtered” kind of had to be the last song since it’s so sparse.

​Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
From different places. Sometimes I write out of fear.  I’ll get some terrible thought in my head and turning it into a song helps me to not be afraid of it.  Other times I just sing jibberish over a melody and record it. Then I listen to it back and pull the words out of it and eventually start to piece together what the songs about.  Some of the songs on this record started with a location, a place that I’d been recently, and I wrote about what I thought happened in that place before I was there.

When/where do you do your best writing?
It used to be first thing in the morning. I’d get up and start smoking cigarettes and drinking diet coke like I was the John Daly of songwriting and go until I ran out of steam.
That’s not really happening anymore.  I’ve got a 2 year old and have to get it in when I can.  If I get an idea for words or a melody I sing it into my phone so I don’t lose track of it.  I write a lot when my daughter is napping but she ain’t napping like she used to.

On May 25th, Finland's Jack's Basket Room released their new adventures EP called Vanilla Club.  Recorded mostly live on tape by using only vintage gear, Vanilla Club finds inspiration mixing Cuban and American sounds pondering, “What if Elvis or Wilson Pickett had been born in Cuba as a woman?" in a collection of fresh originals. Here, band member Pasi answers his Essential 8 and speaks about the album, songwriting, his appreciation of vintage gear, and more.
 
Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
Yes, my uncle who is also playing in the Jack´s Basket Room. He has been a huge influence for me. First of all I wouldn't probably even play guitar without him cause he made me my first guitar. He also taught the basics and printed a huge pile of Guns ´N Roses notes, I was crazy about the band at that time, for me to learn. Actually, when he started making the guitar for me he asked what kind of guitar I would want and my immediate answer was “the same kind that Slash has!”.

With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect?
On the Vanilla Club EP it was the "Mango Man" [Watch HERE]. It just kind of wrote itself and I could see the woman driving in that old 52 Chevy in the streets of Havana. Musically, it was also so simple that it couldn't go wrong. In my opinion when the song sounds good when you play it only with acoustic guitar, it's going to work, at least for me.

Is there a story behind your album’s title?
We wanted to have a title that has some reference to Cuba.  Something that could have been in the 1950´s travel ad. Cause in a way this EP was a holiday for us. Then there is also a little reference to the band´s name. Jack´s Basket Room was an old blues club from the 1950´s and we kind of feel like we have groups of people coming in and out to jam with the “house band” all the time. We are always open to have players sit in with us. Havana Club had the same feeling in it.

Thirty years ago when RJ Comer dropped out of music school he thought that was the end of his dream - but music wasn't done with him just yet. Years of violence, poverty, fractured relationships and suicide attempts followed. After a come-to-Jesus experience in a Mississippi jail, he straightened his life out, worked his way through law school to become a lawyer. Along the way, Comer kept coming back to music, playing with a band on the side - one that was eventually signed. He took the opening and stormed back into music. Comer is now releasing his debut solo album (and sixth release overall), One Last Kiss, on June 15.  

Offering insights of a man who transcended hardships few people escape, the songs on One Last Kiss straddle the line between traditional and contemporary Americana and blues. Combining his baritone vocal with a ragged edge, One Last Kiss shows the emotional and experiential range of a man who once only knew how to fight or flee -- who slowly learned to live and prosper, and eventually learned to love. Ahead of the release, Comer kindly took the time to answer his Essential 8 where he spoke about One Last Kiss, his songwriting process, Denny's, and more.

When/where do you do your best writing?
I muse best late at night, alone, on a street (or alley) in some big city or on my back porch in the Tennessee woods.  It’s kind of a lone wolf thing for me—running through the tangle of stories, phrases, and images in my mind, sniffing them out, nose to the ground until something close to poetry falls into place that inspires me.
 
Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination?
Mostly I write from my own experiences or the experiences of people I have known personally. That personal connection feels the most intimate and authentic to me.  There are exceptions, though, like my heartbreak song “House Grown Cold.”  I’ve been happily married to the same amazing woman for 22 years.  So, for that song, I had to imagine what it would feel like if she didn’t love me anymore.  I’ll tell ya, that bit of musing scared me a whole lot more than any of the bad stuff that has really happened to me.
 
Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did?
There are really two anchors in this album, think of them as fore and aft.  They are Love and Loss.  Songs like Under a Lover’s Moon, Let’s Run, Leave Your Light On, and All Over Again are about my marriage and the adventure my wife and I have been on together for 22 years—the anchor of Love, and it is an anchor rising.  Songs like House Grown Cold, Bad Day in Paradise, If I Could Be Water, and One Last Kiss come from the side of me that remembers not always being a good guy, that sometimes still feels undeserving of love or redemption—the anchor of Loss, and it’s sinking.  That’s the yin and yang of this record and the yin and yang of me.

Nashville guitarist Tony Keats moves center stage with his debut album, Radio Sounds. Released on May 25th, the eleven track collection is a bright blend of horns, guitars, and steel that captures your ears at first listen. Here Keats answers his Essential 8 and talks about the album, the Ryman, the road, and more.

What’s the story behind your album’s title?
The album title comes from the first track of the same name. It was inspired by a recording artist who got a hit song late in her career. It's kind of a 'careful what you wish for' story. There is a great quote from a Miranda July short story called Birthmark where she said "winning is a lot of things but it is never the thing you think it will be. Poor people who win the lottery do not become rich people, they become poor people who won the lottery" I use this theme as a reminder that we should not be as concerned with end results and final destinations as we are with the pathways that lead us through change.
​
What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
Listening. It sounds pretty simple but the best players are the best listeners. Being aware of everything going on will ultimately make the group/song it’s best. I remember seeing Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas with Russ Barenberg and Edgar Myer play and they literally were like… “let me make you sound good”. Each of them do that for each other throughout songs. So that’s what I’d say to someone starting out. Be a good listener.
 
What’s the most frustrating thing about being on the road?
The waiting. I love the road but I really dislike getting there and having time to kill (unless it’s enough to explore the area). But 3 hours in a club before you play kills me.

​Born and raised surrounded by cornfields in southern Indiana, COYOTE’s songwriter and rhythm guitarist, Jessi Williams, is no stranger to country and bluegrass music. At 14, Williams studied the Neil Young guitar songbook, while her parents hosted regular pickin’ parties in the farmhouse kitchen. While her interest in bluegrass may have taken a backseat to her love of 60s and 70s rock and Motown, it has always remained a prominent style in her songwriting. 
 
In 2008 Jessi moved to Los Angeles with her two-year-old daughter. As an outlet for her frustrations as a military wife and single mom, Jessi flooded her notebooks with stories of personal woe and interpretations of the world. Guitar in hand, she took to the stages of dive bars and coffee shops where she met Chris Sousa (bass), Robin Harris (guitar), former member Adrian Prohaska (mandolin), and Conan Skyrme (drums). Through their mutual adoration of folk music, the 5-piece folk rock band known as “Coyote” (pronounced Kye-Oat) was born. Eventually, Coyote found themselves in the live room of the historic EastWest Studios where they laid down eight tracks and prepared for their first release. However, around the same time, Jessi was touring with spaghetti-western influenced folk rock band, The Lonely Wild. Balancing a demanding tour schedule, a day job, and motherhood, she was forced to put Coyote on a hiatus. All the while the songs came, and now, are finally ready to be shared.

Reemerging in 2018 as Jessi Williams and Coyote, the group, with The Lonely Wild member Ryan Ross have new songs in the works and are blowing the dust off of tunes that have ripened beautifully with age. On June 1st, the band will release the lead single from their upcoming EP, “Roam, Little Gypsy." Set to a lulling piano and twangy guitar, the moody waltz--penned by Williams for her fellow country songstress, and friend, Margo Price--“Roam, Little Gypsy” exudes biting lyrics examining the pressures and expectations faced when transitioning from a young, free-spirited woman to a wife and mother. 
 
"When I lived in Nashville, Margo and I would frequently get together to drink, smoke, and play Nirvana or Dylan songs in her basement,” says Williams.  “We were a little wild back then, so these nights felt pretty responsible to us. When I got pregnant and moved to Kansas, my life was strikingly different than the life I'd been living. Margo wrote a song for me called ‘The Ballad of Jessi Williams.’ I remember it had a great line about trading cigarettes for apron strings. When Margo got married and subsequently pregnant with her boys a few years later, I wrote ‘Roam, Little Gypsy’ as a response song. She's heard it and is really supportive of this release.”

Ahead of the single's release, Williams kindly took some time to talk about her roots, the single, and more.

​With your folks hosting picking parties, you were around music from a young age. Did you know it would eventually be your path?
I started off playing trumpet and then guitar, but was intimidated by both my folks and step-brother, who was this incredible guitar player, so the idea of playing in front of people wasn’t something I was ever sure I would ever be ready for. I was always interested in music and knew I would always play it, but growing up in the Midwest, it never seemed like it was a realistic goal to pursue. 

So who or what encouraged you to finally make the jump?
I started writing my own songs in college [Williams graduated with a Music Business degree] and when I moved to Nashville around 2003, I started hanging out and playing with Margo Price, who would book our first coffee house gigs. It was her show, but she really encouraged me to play a couple songs or sing harmony. Knowing someone who was at my level and establishing her career as I was mine, was incredibly encouraging to me. To this day, she is still one of my best friends.

It's a special thing to have someone in the same situation who is also supportive of you.
How did you eventually find your musical identity and the style you play? 
It really just came naturally. My parents played bluegrass, but I always loved Neil Young, the Grateful Dead, and The Band, who all have this rock and roll aspect to them along with a country one and that's a style which I gravitate to.